Doctor Answers (4)

PAL for fat graft harvest

October 19th, 2010

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There are a variety of power assisted liposuction devices on the market. They make liposuction more efficient, and do not use any heat sources (like laser lipo or VASER) which may destroy fat. I think this is an acceptable way to harvest fat for fat grafting- I use PAL for high volume fat graft procurement. I turn the suction down low and keep the PAL RPM rate down very low. Harvesting fat by hand syringe method is probably less traumatic to fat, but is less efficient.

Fat grafting by harvesting at time of liposuction

October 19th, 2010

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Your surgeon may be getting good results and that is what is important. As I do not peform the Brazilian butt lift, my fat injections are of a moderately small volume and I prefer to harvest the fat by hand, in the least traumatic way. I use tumescent anesthesia and a syringe that I connect to a cannula (hollow tube) and aspirate the fat by negative suction. When I peform power-assisted liposuction the fat appears more frothy to me but I have not studied microscopically the appearance of the fat cells removed from this technique to know if they are damaged.

Best way to harvest fat

October 19th, 2010

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The best way to answer this question is to look at your surgeon's long term before and after results. If your surgeon shows good long term success using their particular fat grafting technique then that is great evidence that they are doing something right. There are lots of ways to do this procedure. The proof is in the results.

Fat Transfer Pictures

Harvesting fat for grafting

October 19th, 2010

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There is certainly more than one way to harvest fat for grafting, and different surgeons have found different amounts of success with different techniques. For harvesting, the key element I think is to reduce the trauma to the fat as much as possible. I personally use SAL (suction-assisted liposuction) to harvest the fat, and then use PAL (power-assisted liposuction) over the areas of harvest to make sure we get the best contour possible from these donor areas-- this way the patient gets the advantage of the least amount of trauma possible to the fat, but still can have the benefits of the PAL.

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